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Turnout is the single most important thing I look for when choosing a boarding barn. It is so important to a horses mental and physical health that that is one area I won't compromise on. I would have to be honest and say in my history of boarding, I have tried and tried with special requests and while they may agree if the barn owner / manager doesn't believe the horses truly need turnout, you are probably not going to be dedicated to making sure your horse gets turned out. As perfect as the barn may be otherwise, there is a big gaping whole in the care with regards to turnout. Good luck! I hate boarding because of things like this. I finally have my horses home now and they basically live outside and love it!

I agree, JSO, but there can be a downside. I wish I had a nickel for every time that I have known someone who took their horses home and they "killed them with kindness." At least any half way decent BOs and BMs, for the most part, manage to avoid colic and founder that are directly caused by too much rich grass or just overfeeding in general.

Both boarding and backyarding have their advantages and disadvantages.

Gee, eclectic, do you have ANY up sides to any boarding or horsekeeping scenario?

Sure. As I said, each have their "advantages and disadvantages." One advantage of boarding may be superior experience and knowledge in the people taking care of the horse. There are myriad others, such as having someone to count on to do the work when you are sick, hurt out of town, etc.

One disadvantage of boarding are that you cannot have your horse cared for exactly the way that you would do it if you were doing it yourself.

Upside of backyard horsekeeping is that you can take care of your horse exactly the way that you want. Downside is that you may not have the expertise to know what is best for your horse or the discipline to resist the temptation to spoil your horse. It may also be a problem when you are sick/injured or want to go away.

EVERYTHING is always a trade off. The boarding/backyarding dilemma is no different.

You can try looking for a more private place to board. At my barn the horses go out in the morning and don't come in until 6:30 - 9pm. The downside is that if you want to ride during the day or early evening you need to fetch your horse from the pasture and hope he's good being ridden while everyone else is outside. The upside is all the turn out. This barn doesn't do a night check, but nobody leaves the barn until at least 8pm anyway.

One disadvantage of boarding are that you cannot have your horse cared for exactly the way that you would do it if you were doing it yourself.

Upside of backyard horsekeeping is that you can take care of your horse exactly the way that you want. Downside is that you may not have the expertise to know what is best for your horse or the discipline to resist the temptation to spoil your horse. It may also be a problem when you are sick/injured or want to go away.

EVERYTHING is always a trade off. The boarding/backyarding dilemma is no different.

I agree that everything is always a trade off; although I would suggest that the biggest disadvantages to backyard horsekeeping isn't the lack of expertise/discipline, but the lack of facilities. It's just not very feasible for most backyard horse owners to have a 100x200 outdoor AND an 80x150 indoor. Or even just the indoor. Especially in northern climates.

So you do have to pick and choose what is most important to you. You can continue to look for the holy grail of boarding barns, but in the meantime go look at as many as possible and see what you can find and what you're willing to live with.

If you live in an area where turn out is offered and it's important to you, then I wouldn't settle for someplace that didn't offered it.

I've been around horses for the last 35 years ( both as a boarder and BO) and never knew of any place that offered regular turnout for horses until I started visiting these forums. When I moved to Texas and bought my own place, I thought I was being a lazy horse owner because I preferred to keep my horses out 24/7, lol.

So, it always does surprise me to read these types of conversations and think about how different it is in different parts of NA.

OP - too bad you weren't further east. My barn will do either 24/7, 8 hours during day or 1 hour in a round pen - your choice. My mare lives mostly out, with all her mare friends and free choice hay. Comes in for grain or if the weather is bad. Nice to have a BO that understands each horse is different.

I don't think it is the norm in NY. At least not in my area. I ride at 2 barns in Columbia County NY and both prefer to have to horses out as often as possible--less mucking and healthier. However, there is a dressage show barn near me, and though I've never been there I've been told they don't turnout much as they don't have a lot of pasture and they don't want their show horses out (for whatever reason). I think you just have to pick a place with your values.

"A good man will take care of his horses and dogs, not only while they are young, but also when they are old and past service." Plutarch

Have you considered doing field board at a place with the facilities you want? At our barn I have one in and one out... The one out has an injury that he does better living outside and we would pay a little extra for full use of the facility. We have an indoor and beautiful outdoor arenas. So he would be out 24/7 and have a nice place to work. The inside horses are out during day light hours in the winter and at night during the hotter months.
I am in downstate New York so our places are to far from you but how far are you from Ithica? What kind of facility are you looking for?

Mai Tai aka Tyler RIP March 1994-December 2011
Grief is the price we pay for love- Gretchen Jackson
"And here she comes. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's ZENYATTA!"

However, there is a dressage show barn near me, and though I've never been there I've been told they don't turnout much as they don't have a lot of pasture and they don't want their show horses out (for whatever reason). I think you just have to pick a place with your values.

I've visited a few dressage barns near Wellington that had grass paddocks, but only because the horses were almost never turned out in them! One place had lease terms saying that no paddock could have a horse in it for more than an hour a day.

I refused to sell a horse to someone because she would have no turnout at all during the winter/rainy months, which for the PNW means late October through May/June. Oh, she would get a few minutes of turnout in the indoor while they cleaned her stall and get to come out when being ridden, but otherwise stuck in her stall for 23 hours a day. This is a horse that lives outside, she would be a neurotic mess and miserable if I let her go to that situation.

No turnout is a definite deal breaker for me. My first horse was rather hot OTTB and her training barn had no turnout as is usual for racehorses. I bought her and threw her out in the pasture and she was thrilled. Became the most level headed, sweetest horse you could ever want.

Yogurt - If you're so cultured, how come I never see you at the opera? Steven Colbert

Is there a way you can ( at your own expense, of course) modify an end stall by adding horse round pen panels to make an individual 24/7 turnout for your horse? We did this in my barn for my brood mare. We cut a door opening in the foaling stall and added a large pen off that so the mare and foal could come and go as they pleased. It did have a door so I could lock them if the weather was bad, but I don't think I ever did.

Is there a way you can ( at your own expense, of course) modify an end stall by adding horse round pen panels to make an individual 24/7 turnout for your horse? We did this in my barn for my brood mare. We cut a door opening in the foaling stall and added a large pen off that so the mare and foal could come and go as they pleased. It did have a door so I could lock them if the weather was bad, but I don't think I ever did.

Did you read the OP's original post (& her subsequent ones)?

Why oh why do you think a boarding barn that is unwilling to use the acres & acres of beautiful fenced pasture they already have & are unwilling to accommodate the OP (who would be coming in as a new boarder) would allow her to cut a hole in their barn & rig up round-pen panels for her horse? Sorry - but even I think that's ridiculous, & I'm a HUGE turn-out advocate.

Is the barn owner willing to make a paddock available for your horse if you are the one who stops by there on your way to work to turn the critter out, and you will bring him back in later? If the space for TO is available and it is just the labor involved they do not want to do, why not just do that yourself since it so close to home?

Jeanie
RIP Sasha, best dog ever, pictured shortly before she died, Death either by euthanasia or natural causes is only the end of the animal inhabiting its body; I believe the spirit lives on.

Is the barn owner willing to make a paddock available for your horse if you are the one who stops by there on your way to work to turn the critter out, and you will bring him back in later? If the space for TO is available and it is just the labor involved they do not want to do, why not just do that yourself since it so close to home?

Apparently you didn't read the OP's post where she said that she asked the BO if she could do this & was told NO. Sigh.